Matt Z

Sadly, "normal" is super subjective. Some folks take longer to feel normal than others. And it's not always related to healing. I've seen/heard of folks that should be all healed up, having some issues with things still. It's a learning process overall, but it does get easier to deal with and with each passing day, barring any issues or complications, you should notice things getting easier. Tespo information can be found here https://gettespo.com/ PatchMD here https://www.patchmd.com/ Both can be purchased from the Bariatric Pal store.

From my understanding, a good portion of sleeve patients will have to do another barium swallow as a "leak test" before they leave the hospital.

You will feel normal again. The process takes time and yes, it sucks. But it does get better. Have you looked into liquid vitamins (tespo) or the vitamin patches (patchMD) (and yes I know there is a major controversy around the patches, but in my own personally clinical trial, they are working quite well for me).

I'm not suggesting they return everything back the way it was and do the surgery again, I'm saying they can go in endoscopically and resize your pouch that way, without having to open you back up.

For me, the best description of dumping is, a weeks worth of the flu, compressed into a few hours. Nausea, cramping, cold sweats, maybe a fever, diarrhea, some folks get vomiting, aches, pains, light headed and dizzy.... and then you feel like you got hit by a truck for a while. Then you've got what I'm calling "light dumping" which is most of those symptoms just dialed way back but still super uncomfortable.

Avoid the band all together. There are other options, like Endoscopic gastric pouch plication.

Zero times. Didn't even need the nausea meds before, during or after surgery.

Just curious why you "have" to have it? I'm not a fan either, and I didn't consume any at all during my pre-op, even though it was an option on my list.

First and foremost, wait until your docs give you the thumbs up for weight lifting, you don't want to rip anything! Machines are going to target muscle groups, but that's it. They don't really help with all the supporting muscle groups that get activated when you use free weights. But, machines keep your form correct, something that you have to do on your own with free weights and if your form isn't right, you can cause damages. So it really all depends on what you want to do, there is nothing wrong with using machines at all. But you just need to understand that there are lots of muscle groups that are just not going to be activated during those machine based exercises. But you know your form is going to be correct. (or more correct). And yes people are divided on machines / free weight. But both will work for building muscle. Check into alternating your lifting with drop sets, pyramid sets, super sets, etc etc. Check into Casein protein for your night time protein because it is a slow acting protein and helps build muscle mass over night while you sleep. Creatine is also very helpful. But again, get clearance before you start doing anything heavy!

There isn't one. Everyone's process is different. Everyone's stalls are caused by different things. The best answer is, make sure you are tracking EVERYTHING. Make sure you are exercising. Make sure you know your BMR (and pay attention to it since it changes as you age and lose weight) and that you are coming in under your BMR daily. And if you are only tracking your weight, and not body fat %, you are missing out on a pretty important measurement. If you are working out, you can lose fat and gain weight.

You need to sit her down and explain to her what you need her to do, in order to help and not hinder your whole surgery. You need to be 100% honest with her about all of it. And she's going to need to make some changes as well... if she doesn't or refuses to, then it's pretty clear that you don't mean as much to her as food does.

Do you think that's fair or caring to you? You might love her, sure, but if she's not going to bother to change even a little for you, while you need her to... well. That's 100% on you man.

Well, firstly you don't have to eat what she's eating. Will power is required here. And it's good to get used to using that will power now, because for pretty much the rest of your life... there are going to be people around you that are going to eat things you can't. Sounds like your girlfriend doesn't seem to care about your situation. And if that's the case... might be time to re-evaluate that situation, Do you really want to stay with someone that's unsupportive, unhelpful and down right subversive? Your call, but, personally, if my significant other refused to get on board with what I needed in order to be healthy... then I wouldn't want that person around at all.

"Clear liquids" don't mean 100% clear. It means "See through". It doesn't matter if it's colored. With the coffee, before surgery is fine, but understand that you'll want to avoid it for a while post surgery due to several things coffee/caffeine does. It pulls water out of our system so, right after surgery when we are struggling to get our water goal, it's not a good idea to have something reducing our water levels. If causes increased acid production, which is bad during healing. Caffeine also binds to calcium so you'll want to make sure there is some actual milk in your coffee to allow the caffeine to bind to that calcium, rather than in your gut.

I'm using PatchMD patches. Just put them on in the morning... and that's it. Nothing to take orally. Yes they are controversial and people have some very strong opinions about them due to lack of research etc. But I've been using them for 5 months or so now and my blood levels are all just fine (except Vitamin D, but that's super common where I live) The only thing I still take by mouth are a once a week 50,000 IU vitamin D, a daily 10,000 IU vitamin D, an acid reducer (that I really don't actually need to take anymore, but the doc says it's not hurting by me still taking it) and I take biotin and fiber chewables daily as well. But that's it, everything else is provided by the patches. Blood work to prove that the patches (for me).

Stalls suck hard. As much as we can be mentally prepared for them... they are still mind numbingly frustrating!

If you are stalled out. First thing is to not worry about it. It happens. If it is *REALLY* bothering you, then you need to make sure you are doing the following. You need to be tracking **EVERYTHING** You eat Your total calories need to be lower than your BMR You need to be tracking your water intake and ensuring it's above 64oz, the human body needs water to break down fat, if you don't have enough to meet your normal requirements, fat loss is going to suffer You need to be doing SOME exercise, daily If you aren't doing all of these. Then start. Also, Weight is just 1 number in this whole process, if you are not tracking fat loss, you are missing out on another important measurement. You can not lose weight, or even gain weight and still lose body fat (if you are working out / exercising)

Yellowing of the whites of your eyes is usually Jaundice. Found this other post where another user had the same issue.

I've never had issues with FitBit... but you have to read everything, the battery life on some of the devices sucks if you leave certain functions on... I've got the FitBit Charge HR 2 right now. I leave the heart rate monitor off because it kills the battery. Have you contacted FitBit about the issues you've faced? They are generally VERY good about support.

You can check online, I know lots of places will typically provide some samples. You could also check into your local supplement stores, they sometimes offer samples there as well.

Might be worth trying some pea or soy protein, just only to see how you react. If I were in your shoes, I certainly would get a small sample of some plant based proteins to try out.

And now you are assuming because I'm male I don't have emotions? That I wasn't scared as hell going into things? that I didn't have some crazy depression because the rest of my family can eat all the foods I wish I could? That's I'm not effected by hunger? Seriously. The emotions you speak of... are not specific to one sex. I don't know of anyone that was given a pre-op diet that was informed as to how hard it would be... They didn't tell us before my lap-band back in 2011... they didn't tell use this time around when I was revised from Band to Bypass. I'm going bow out of this... I provided you with sound advice. It's up to you want you want to do with it. Good luck.

Dr. Ryder is great! Waits can be a little long, but she really is a great, caring doctor!

Weight gain or Salt? Odds are you are gaining some muscle mass / retaining some water. I assume you aren't tracking your body fat %. Because it's very possible you've gained "weight" but lost fat. There have been a LOT of times when this has happened to me, I'll gain a pound or so but lose a few tenths of a % of body fat. If you are hitting your intake goals and consuming less calories than you burn in a day... then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Once I had my approval (took 2 times btw) I was given a surgery date within a week, surgery was about a month later. All depends on your surgeon's OR schedule.